St. Patrick's Day Fun Educational Ideas!

Are you looking for some ways to incorporate St. Patrick's Day into curriculum? Below are a few educational ways to get in some St. Patty's Day fun while learning!

 

Watch and read along with the story, Jamie O'Rourke and the Big Potato. After the story you can have students... 1. Write a different ending to the story. 2. Retell the story in Book Creator, Sock Puppets, or another app. 3. Illustrate their favorite part of the story, then take a pic of their illustration, and use it in an App like ChatterPix Kids to describe their favorite part. Really the possibilities are endless. This story has a good lesson about not taking shortcuts.

Have a Green Tasting Party! Check out this bog article with tons of great ideas for the tasting party, including menu ideas and follow up writing activities.

Or for free... March Literacy Center print outs (for approximately 3rd grade) Limerick template (for 4th/5th grade) Idiom matching sheet (for 2nd-5th) St. Patty's survey and graph (for PK-1st) Lastly a ton of ideas and activities (for all grade levels).

Activities and Techniques for Improving Student Fluency

Scooping Words - Teaching students to scoop phrases in sentences rather than reading one word at a time helps students on their journey to become fluent readers. I have collected a few resources for you to help your students learn to scoop.

 1. Seesaw Activity - In this activity students are to practice scooping phrases in a story of their choosing. I like this activity because students can do it more than once and they can listen to themselves read. They can also have peers and parents listen to their reading for an authentic audience.

2. Book Creator Digital Interactive Workbook - I created this digital workbook specifically for students to practice scooping with arrows and short phrase practice. I like this activity because students can record themselves scooping and listen back to how well they did. Students could also have a quick conference with their classroom teach for feedback or set goals for the next time they read. Pages can be added so this digital workbook is also adaptable and never stagnant.




Fluency Practice - Fluency can often mean several things. Sometimes, in the case of the DRA,  reading with fluency means speed reading. It can also mean reading with inflection and pauses in the appropriate places. Below you will find resources for both options. Sometimes you will have to tell your students what type of fluency you are looking for.

 1. Seesaw has a variety of Fluency activities. I am particularly  drawn to Fluency Self Evaluation,  Reading with Fluency and Expression, and Reading Fluency (for higher readers). If you search the word fluency when you are assigning an activity in Seesaw you will have a variety of choices to meet your students' needs.




2. I created a fluency digital interactive workbook to be used as a fluency journal, Hear Me Track My Fluency. Students should record themselves a few times a week and set goals for the next time they record themselves. Having a journal allows students to go back and listen to their progress. A classroom teacher should give students opportunity to look back and reflect on their fluency growth throughout the school year.

Here is a great site for students to occasionally use to test their fluency and comprehension...

http://www.freereadingtest.com/